Does Fianna Fáil have a political future?

What does FF stand for?

It is no longer the party of "people with no property" or of rural Ireland and working class (north) Dublin. Socially conservative and economically left of center it used to be, now it is a cold place for social conservatives and its time in government with the PDs made it as right-wing economically as FG.

It may as well merge with Labour and the Social Democrats - or FG.

Of course they do. Every idiot in the country will have them in again sure next time round.

That's how we roll.

SF keep all their promises - spend money we don't have - drive FDI away -

betraying rural Ireland with their fence-sitting on green policies - having to make a decision?

As they have been in government in the North (implementing british rule) can you name 1 policy they implemented that they would implement in the 26 counties?

Lisa Chambers was seen as someone who would appeal to the next generation of voters but that dodgy finger of hers took some of the shine off her.

Hard to know if she will get elected next time around either.

As for the party I can see them doing a deal with the Shinners to form a coalition.

I think FF will end up splitting in two with half merging into SF and half merging into FG.

Years ago on Vincent Browne one night I remember Vincent asking a FFer what was the difference between FF and FG and the answer was pretty much:

"Well Fine Gael prefer a 2:1 ratio between spending cuts and tax measures, whereas in Fianna Fail we advocate for a 1:2 ratio between spending cuts and tax measures"

It was such a jaw-droppingly mundane answer, one that only politicos, mandarins and media types might even grasp; for the general public it was pretty much the difference between Kang v Kronos. I knew there and then they were a party rapidly losing their identify.

Even now I don't know what they stand for anymore. They seem to be a party that decides policy based on hashtags on twitter; trying to appear progressive to Social Democrat types, who despise them and would never vote for them anyway.

This is the problem they have at the moment, as another poster said above, they have no talent coming through so if they did get rid of the dead wood and there is a lot of it who would they replace it with. Sure most people wouldn't even know who the deputy leader of FF is? I think it says it all when the likes of Jack and Lisa Chambers are being touted as leaders of the party. Unless they can turn things around in the next couple of years they are going to be destroyed in the next election. I can see them ending up like Labour or the PD's before that hanging around the 5% mark and propping up either FG or SF.

I think after the next election we are going to be looking at 2 big parties SF and FG and then 3 or 4 like FF, Labour, Greens and SD all hanging around the 5 - 10% mark with either SF or FG needing a couple of them to form a government. We could be in for a couple of quick elections.

Well, the guy who I thought would lead any split (but not be its leader after) left the party entirely. McSharry.

This is the problem they have now is that they are indistinguishable from FG, if they want to survive they have to find a place where they can be seen as being different to FG but now also the SF. Not much room in-between those 2 for FF.

That's true in a way, we have no idea what SF will be like in charge given they are glorified county councillors up North and seem unable to push for the same changes they will implement in the south.

We have no idea what SF will be like, opposition to government is a massive change. It will be interesting to see how they react to that change. And how quickly they can articulate what the change they will deliver will be when they are in with another party/parties.

FF are done, as someone said above, seen to want that sweet 3 percent of the SDs they are never ever going to get.

You ll make it sound like we are not going to see a FF/SF government after next general election which is the most likely outcome.

When this happens, tell me what will be different?

1) Will we build high rise buildings like they do in every other developed country in the world to deal with supply? NO

2) Will we make it easier for banks to repossess homes. See cases like below are reasons why we pay highest interest rates in Europe but banks like KBC and Ulster Bank still can't make enough profit to stay. They have left and existing banks will now increase their interest rates. What will SF or FF/SF do to make it easier to repossess property?

3) It can take years for landlords to evict tenants without payment whilst paying a mortgage in most cases. Will SF or FF/SF pass legislation to change this? Its politically unpopular but landlords are leaving in droves so where will rental accommodation come from?

The facts are the answers to all of the above major issues is NO so there will not be even a wiff of change. We will still be Anti-Supply Anti-Bank and Anti-landlord. FG will then most likely do well then after FF/SF have brought about zero change and the country still suffering from high inflation.

What is solved by repossession? In short it would be Increased competition and lower interest rates as result.

It simply does not take years upon years to repossess a property for non payment in other countries. The higher risk any banks take on, the higher the interest rate to correspond with the risk.

Ireland is a very small market and if I'm KBC or Ulster Bank, I have to wait several years in legal fees to repossess the property and even then after all that the customer might obtain a PIA, pay very little and retain the property after other large debts are written off. So even after charging highest interest rates in EU, I still can't make much profit why would I stay?

I wouldn't which is why they have pulled out and sold to the other banks such as BOI and AIB. They will definitely increase their rates now that there is much less competition and they gobbled up their closest competitors.

Some may say this not a matter of politics but it is as government focus too much on doing what is politically popular in short term. The government could acknowledge this huge issue affecting people and pass legislation to allow quicker repossessions but won't because that would be unpopular. However the irony is when people starting paying even higher interest rates they will be on Facebook etc giving out about the government. My point is FF or SF etc will continue to be anti Bank so enjoy paying high interest rates.

Similarly people are saying the government need to do something about lack of rental properties available yet we are so anti landlord we will do nothing to legislate to kick non paying tenants who have not paid their rent for several years as this would be political suicide. So more landlords will continue to leave the market under SF or SF/FF etc

For real change to take place, a government party will need to be willing to commit political suicide by legislating to change the above in addition to high rise housing. It simply will not happen.

Problem is also a population crisis, that won’t be fixed by any of the above..